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Sunday, February 8, 2009

I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I think I might be a Valentine’s Day scrooge this year.

So many blogs I read feature V-day ideas that range from cute to downright ingenious.

I, on the other hand, feel a little burned out. Maybe it’s because Christmas feels like it happened just this morning. In my last-minute scramble to get everything ready for Christmas, I had to put it into over-drive so I could hand-make gifts and creatively wrap them. I made apple butter from scratch for the neighbors, and Matt and I started a tradition of writing each other a letter about the year.

Plus, my birthday is just so damn close to Valentine’s Day (um, tomorrow, in fact!). I’m busy planning my birthday party: the invitations, the website, the dress, the menu, etc.

It just feels too contrived and artificial to pour my heart into making something or writing something or buying something for my beloved.

The truth is, Matt’s not really into mandated holidays anyway. He thinks it’s much more meaningful to surprise each other with notes and gifts throughout the year when the spirit (not Hallmark) moves us. I can’t even remember what we did last year. The year before, we ordered a heart-shaped pizza from Papa John’s and rented a movie.

I have any idea. Maybe we can buy a box of those fun kiddy valentines, make a batch of cookies or brownies, wrap them into cute packages and make deliveries to people at our favorite establishments who have to work on Valentine’s Day. We have a couple places (like Amy’s Ice Cream and The Hobbit) that we visit so frequently they probably wouldn’t be sketched out by eating homemade baked goods.

Oh wait! What am I saying? I’m actually going to a wedding on Valentine’s Day. Hooray! A 2000DollarWedding reader took me up on my Halloween party invitation last October and is returning the favor by inviting me to her—um—really important party!

Maybe I can wear my 1950s party dress. I better get it finished! [insert gulp]

What sweet things are you planning for your nearest and dearest on Valentine's Day?

4 comments:

Dianne
said...

I've never been a big fan of Valentine's Day except for the fact that it is my mom's birthday! This year, my husband and I are having a family birhtday bash at our house on Valentine's Day to celebrate mom's 81st (!), my neice's 8th (Feb. 2) my sweet husband's (also tomorrow) and my nephew's girlfreind's (she is from Serbia and will not be able to celebrate with her family). We've got a fun afternoon/evening planned with my mom's favorite - BUNCO (complete with prizes) - and an Italian pasta bar dinner. Should be a great time and waaaay better than an over-priced, over-crowded "romantic" dinner out.

my fiance and i are both servers at a very busy restaurant in providence (we actually met at an orientation meeting for work when we both got hired...and the rest is history!). anywho, we're both working valentines night, raking in the dough from everyone else who feels the need to spend lots of money on food and wine and cocktails to celebrate their love. haha.

My other and half and myself will be dancing for a cause, or at least recovering from it.Dance Marathon is a fundraising organization that raises money for the Charity Care program Texas Children's Hospital. I'm on the exec board for it, so I've been working hard since August to help pull it together. We pledge to stay standing and awake for 16 hours and people pledge money.The event starts on Feb. 13th and ends the 14th at 10AM. So technically we do have all day to do other stuff, but after last year I know I wont want to. But that was my request for Valentine's. Just that he would do it with me. And maybe a foot massage afterward. :)Sorry if that was really long...

My partner and I take turns making a fancy, homemade dinner for each other on Valentine's Day. We try to make it creative and memorable, and it is always the only gift we give. This year is his turn and I saw some lamb in the freezer that looks scary, but very exciting!

Us

We're the kind of people who would rather be outside than in. We drink mostly water. A lot of it. We're the kind of people who put on costumes at Halloween and drive around town delivering brownies (with bows) to friends and random people in the service industry. We cook four nights a week and eat out three. We're passionate about making the world better, and we spend lots of time actually trying to do it.